A Query to Massachusetts General Hospital’s Senior VP for Public Affairs: On the Danger of “Contained Manual Morcellation”
On 7/17/2019, the below letter of query was submitted to Ms. Peggy Salsman, Senior Vice-President for Public Affairs at Massachusetts General Hospital, and her staff — regarding that hospital’s position on the safety of “contained manual morcellation” in women. In light of their clear knowledge of deadly hazard to women with symptomatic uterine disease, it is hoped that the MGH leadership and the hospital’s medical malpractice insurer, CRICO, are able to understand the need for an immediate moratorium on all morcellation practices in women at Boston’s premier healthcare system, Partners Health.
This letter comes on the heels of another public letter to MGH’s medical malpractice insurer, CRICO, its CEO and CMO, informing them of a deadly iatrogenic hazard to unsuspecting women’s lives. You may read this letter HERE.
The letter to MGH’s Ms. Salsman follows:
Dear Ms. Slasman,
I am writing you to inquire about MGH’s policy on, and understanding of, the oncological safety profile of “contained manual morcellation” of uterine tissues in your department of Gynecology.
Specifically, this query is based on a recent missed uterine cancer diagnosis in a female patient at MGH.
Unfortunately, it appears that this particular woman’s “missed” cancer was manually morcellated inside the patient’s abdominal cavity by one of your GYN practitioners.
Please respond to the following questions for the public record:
1) Is MGH, as a Partners Health Hospital, aware of the data from BWH’s MIG division, led by Drs. Cohen and Einarsson, demonstrating an up to 41% rate of failure for the containment bags used in manual morcellation by Partners Health GYNs?
2) Are your GYN patients at MGH being informed of: a) this high rate of containment bag failure and b) the fact that a non-negligible frequency of uterine cancers are not being preoperatively identified and are, thus, missed by GYNs who proceed with morcellation, as was the case with the recent patient?
3) In light of the recent “missed and morcellated” uterine cancer diagnosis at MGH, and the data demonstrating a high rate of containment bag failure, does MGH (or Partners Health) plan to change its approach to uterine tissue extraction in women undergoing hysterectomy and myomectomy operations?
4) In light of the recent complication and unreasonably high containment bag failure rate, does MGH plan to immediately place a moratorium on performing ALL manual morcellation operations in which a cancer diagnosis has not been definitively ruled out — in order to prevent the potential avoidable iatrogenic spread of deadly uterine cancers?
I do ask that you take this communication seriously, as it represents concern about a severe threat to the lives of unsuspecting women undergoing uterine operations at MGH and other Partners Hospitals in Boston, MA.
I write this query for the historic record and in order to establish that MGH, the MGH public affairs department, Partners Health, CRICO and State/Federal regulators are aware of a deadly oncological threat to the lives of women with missed uterine cancers.
I look forward to receiving your response.
Sincerely,
Hooman Noorchashm MD, PhD.
